''Acacia glandulicarpa'', commonly known as the hairy-pod wattle, is a perennial shrub belonging to the genus '' Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Phyllodinea'' that is native to parts of south eastern Australia. The shrub typically grows to a height of and has a dense and spreading habit. The shrub has a scattered distribution from the Burra Gorge and Bordertown area in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, through to the Little Desert and

Dimboola Dimboola is a town in the Shire of Hindmarsh in the Wimmera region of western Victoria, Australia, 334 kilometres north-west of Melbourne. History Situated on the Wimmera River, Dimboola was previously known as 'Nine Creeks'. Following a surve ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

where it is found on rocky hills as a part of scrub or ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as e ...

'' woodland communities.

Description

The hairy-pod wattle is a dense, rounded, spreading, branched shrub 1-2m high. Foliage is dull olive-green foliage, with grey-brown, pubescent branches and small raised leaf bases along the stems. Small phyllodes, 5–12 mm long by 3–6 mm broad, with wavy outer margin, one main vein and a secondary one, branchlets minutely hairy,

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...

s absent. Flowering between July – October,

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

are simple and axillary, either solitary or paired. Deep golden-yellow, globular heads with 6 mm diameter on short peduncle, with flower head carrying 8-20 flowers. Pods are narrowly oblong, covered with short glandular hairs, 15–25 mm long, by 3-5mm broad. ''Acacia glandulicarpa'' has similar attributes to five other Acacia species; ''A. acinacea'', '' A. aspera, A. daviesii, A. gunnii'' and '' A. paradoxa.''

Distribution and habitat

The hairy-pod wattle has only been recorded in western

and in

. The population in Victoria is scattered in about 100 woodland sites, located in southern

Wimmera The Wimmera is a region of the Australian state of Victoria. The district is located within parts of the Loddon Mallee and the Grampians regions; and covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub, east of the South Aust ...

, south-west of Horsham and north of

Nhill Nhill is a town in the Wimmera, in western Victoria, Australia. Nhill is located on the Western Highway, halfway between Adelaide and Melbourne. At the , Nhill had a population of 1,749. "Nhill" is believed to be a Wergaia word meaning "early ...

. The small site in South Australia is in the Burra Gorge area.Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria. (1996). ''Flora & Fauna Guarantee - Action Statement - Hairy-pod Wattle Acacia glandulicarpa''. In gravelly soils and sandy rise, the species is often associated with Yellow mallee ''(

Eucalyptus incrassata ''Eucalyptus incrassata'', commonly known as the lerp mallee, yellow mallee, ridge fruited mallee or rib fruited mallee, is a species of mallee that is endemic to southern Australia. It has smooth bark, sometimes with rough, ribbony bark near ...

)'', dumosa mallee (''

Eucalyptus dumosa ''Eucalyptus dumosa'', commonly known as the white mallee, dumosa mallee, or Congoo mallee, is a species of mallee that is endemic to south eastern Australia. It usually has rough, flaky grey bark on the lower trunk, smooth bark above, lance-shap ...

''), green mallee (''

Eucalyptus viridis ''Eucalyptus viridis'', commonly known as the green mallee, is a species of mallee or small tree that is endemic to south-eastern, continental Australia. It has rough fibrous or flaky bark on the lower trunk, smooth bark above, linear to narrow ...

'') and bull mallee ('' Eucalyptus behriana''). In locations where soils are not as well drained, the species is associated with yellow gum (''

Eucalyptus leucoxylon ''Eucalyptus leucoxylon'', commonly known as yellow gum, blue gum or white ironbark, is a species of small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It has smooth yellowish bark with some rough bark near the bas ...

''), grey box (''

Eucalyptus microcarpa ''Eucalyptus microcarpa'', commonly known as grey box, is a species of tree that is endemic to southeastern continental Australia. It has rough, fibrous or flaky bark on the trunk, smooth whitish bark above, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower bu ...

'') and buloke (''

Allocasuarina luehmannii ''Allocasuarina luehmannii'' (buloke or bull-oak) is a species of ironwood tree native to Australia and its wood is the hardest commercially available as measured by the Janka Hardness Scale. Description The evergreen tree typically grows ...

'').Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria. (2011). ''National Recovery Plan for the Hairy-pod Wattle Acacia glandulicarpa''. In South Australia, the species is associated with hopbush (''

Dodonaea viscosa ''Dodonaea viscosa'', also known as the broadleaf hopbush, is a species of flowering plant in the '' Dodonaea'' (hopbush) genus that has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of Africa, the Americas, sout ...

''), clammy daisy bush ('' Olearia decurrens'') and pale turpentine bush ('' Beyeria lechenaultii'') on light sandy loams, or needle wattle (''

Acacia carneorum ''Acacia carneorum'', also referred to as purple-wood wattle, needle wattle, dead finish or by its former scientific name, ''Acacia carnei'', is a plant species in the genus '' Acacia''. It occurs in small populations in far north-west New South ...

''), golden wattle (''

Acacia pycnantha ''Acacia pycnantha'', most commonly known as the golden wattle, is a tree of the family Fabaceae native to southeastern Australia. It grows to a height of and has phyllodes (flattened leaf stalks) instead of true leaves. Sickle-shaped, these ...

'') and kangaroo grass (''

Themeda triandra } ''Themeda triandra'' is a species of perennial tussock-forming grass widespread in Africa, Australia, Asia and the Pacific. In Australia it is commonly known as kangaroo grass and in East Africa and South Africa it is known as red grass and re ...

'') on skeletal soils with outcropping shales.Flora of South Australia. (n.d.). ''Fact sheet for Acacia glandulicarpa''. Www.flora.sa.gov.au. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/cgi-bin/speciesfacts_display.cgi?form=speciesfacts&name=Acacia_glandulicarpa Most sites are on roadsides, small crown land remnants or scattered within developed agricultural land, distributed on slopes in the transition zone between heavy and sandy soils. Occurring also in a range of woodland, shrubland, and open mallee vegetation communities. The species is present in the

Little Desert National Park The Little Desert National Park is a national park in the Wimmera Mallee region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated near Dimboola, approximately west of Melbourne and extends from the Wimmera River in the east to the Sout ...

, and conservation reserves at Gerang Gerung, and The John Smith Reserve.

Conservation status

Widespread clearing of habitat has been responsible for the range and abundance decline of this species. As the hairy-pod wattle is restricted to less than 100 scattered sites in Victoria and one small site in South Australia, the species is listed as threatened under the ''Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act'' 1988 and listed as vulnerable under the Australian Government ''

environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

''. There are estimated to be about 6,000 – 12,000 plants among the roughly 100 sites, with the Little Desert National Park site accounting for about 25% of the total number. Most of the remaining sites are small, fragmented, and vulnerable to disturbance, within degraded and weedy vegetation, providing little opportunity to expand the population.

Threats

Threats to the species include inappropriate fire regimes, weed invasion, lack of

regeneration Regeneration may refer to: Science and technology * Regeneration (biology), the ability to recreate lost or damaged cells, tissues, organs and limbs * Regeneration (ecology), the ability of ecosystems to regenerate biomass, using photosynthesis ...

, erosion, agricultural chemical spray drift, roadworks, and grazing by introduced herbivores or domestic stock. Ecological requirements for the hairy-pod wattle have not yet been studied and identified. While it is known that seedlings can grow without fire or soil disturbance, information on regeneration has not been studied.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9564943 glandulicarpa Plants described in 1897

Description

Distribution and habitat

Conservation status

Threats

See also

References